D.C. Memo: All Tuckered out

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In a xenophobic rant, Fox News Host Tucker Carlson said Rep. Ilhan Omar is “living proof” that U.S. immigration laws are “dangerous.”

Welcome to this week’s edition of the D.C. Memo. This week in Washington, San Francisco’s own Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson, first of his name; Democratic infighting over immigration policy; and still no fundraising numbers from Klobuchar. Now let’s get on with it.

Tucker Carlson is still shouting

In a xenophobic rant, Fox News host Tucker Carlson said Rep. Ilhan Omar is “living proof” that U.S. immigration laws are “dangerous.”

“Appalling, offensive, and flat out wrong,” Phillips said. “Principled people of all political perspectives must speak-out against the real danger facing our country; this kind of sickening rhetoric. Immigrants are not a threat to America, immigrants ARE America.”

“Not gonna lie, it’s kinda fun watching a racist fool like this weeping about my presence in Congress,” Omar said on Twitter. “No lies will stamp out my love for this country or my resolve to make our union more perfect.”

Solving problems

Late last month, the U.S. House of Representatives sought to take action to improve conditions at the border. But while the Democrats that control that body all agree something needs to be done on the border, the fight over a border bill laid bare a conflict between moderates and progressives ⁠— the Problem Solvers Caucus and both the Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

At the center of the conflict is the question of what’s most needed at the border right now: more funding or more oversight? Read more at MinnPost.

The president next door

The question that’s still on everybody’s mind, or maybe just my mind: how much did Sen. Amy Klobuchar raise in the second quarter? And how many donors did she raise it from?

Candidates who “aren’t near the top probably have little chance of making drastic increases,” Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics,told Bloomberg on Thursday.

Klobuchar’s recent fundraising emails say that she met her second quarter goal, but it’s unclear what that goal was. More importantly, for a spot during the third debate, how many donors did she raise it from? All of this is unclear, but Klobuchar will need 130,000 unique individual donors to qualify for the third Democratic debate in early September.

Meanwhile, it’s been a busy news week for Klobuchar.

On Tuesday, Amy Klobuchar called on U.S. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta to resign over his role in a plea deal involving indicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Her campaign says she was the first candidate to do so.

Klobuchar rolled out another piece of her policy agenda this week, deemed the Progress Partnership. Her plan would increase Federal funding to K-12 schools via a matching program if they choose to implement certain programs, for example, increasing teacher pay or creating a school infrastructure improvement fund.

Finally, the Senator Next Door also rolled out six more endorsements in Iowa today:

Shirley McAdon, an Adel City Council member.

Bill Witt, a former legislator from Black Hawk County.

Jackie Wellman, a community activist in West Des Moines.

Ruth and Scott Thompson, party activists in Des Moines

Melissa Fath, a community activist and University of Iowa cancer researcher.

These endorsements build on two state legislators, State Reps. Marti Anderson, and Ruth Ann Gaines, one of Iowa’s four black legislators. Additionally, Klobuchar’s Iowa Campaign Chair is former Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Andy McGuire.

There’s a conflict brewing between Speaker Pelosi and the progressive group of four — Reps. Omar, Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. Pelosi took to the pages of the NYT op-ed section, the four took to Twitter to point out that Pelosi is disparaging four women of color, and somewhat lost in the conflict: a serious disagreement about immigration policy.

“I’m starting to get confused about who’s setting the agenda and who’s leading the majority in the House,” Omar told VICE.

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About the author:

Gabe Schneider is MinnPost's Washington correspondent. Before joining MinnPost, he served as a reporting fellow for the nonprofit Texas Tribune, and he has written for The Columbia Journalism Review, Vox, Los Angeles Magazine, and more.

Comments (1)

Thank you for this great email. I especially enjoyed reading what Dean Phillips had to say about Ilhan Omar. I have been very disappointed with him in terms of his refusal to listen to the people who are trying to stop the toxic Polyme mine, So it was nice to know I agree with him on some things. Same Polymet concerns with Amy K (only more so) so happy she apparently doesn’t have a great shot at becoming our next president. I also especially enjoyed the quote of the week. Thanks again.